System and method for distributing streaming content through cooperative networking

Abstract

A system and method for distributing streaming content data from a server to multiple clients enables the server to handle transient surges of requests by having the clients cooperate with the server and other clients to distribute content, thereby alleviating the load on the server. The server divides the streaming content into multiple sub-streams (e.g., by using multiple description coding), and constructs multiple distribution trees with itself at the root and each client as a node in each of the trees. Each sub-stream is transmitted down a corresponding one of the distribution trees. Clients that receive sub-streams from its parent nodes in the distribution trees in turn forward the sub-streams to their child nodes in the trees.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]This invention relates generally to the transmission of data over a computer network, and more particularly to a way to enable a server to distribute streaming content to a large number of clients, especially during a surge of requests.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The Internet has become a major source of information. At any given time, hundreds of thousands of clients are downloading information from various servers on the Internet. For any given server, an important technical issue is the number of clients it is able to serve at a given time. Unacceptable delay may be experienced if the number of client requests significantly exceeds the capacity of the server.[0003]This issue of server capacity is critical in the case of streaming media content. Recently, there has been an explosive growth of streaming media applications on the Internet. With a typical streaming media application, video and / or audio data are streamed from a server to a requesting client f...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005]In view of the foregoing, the present invention provides a system and method for distributing streaming media content from a server to multiple clients that is scalable and can effectively handle a “flash crowd,” i.e., a sudden surge of requests from clients for the streaming media content. In accordance with the invention, the server providing the streaming content and the clients that want to receive the content collaborate in a form of “cooperative networking” in which the clients forward the content they have received to other clients, thereby alleviating the load on the server.

[0007]The multiple distribution trees provide diversity in the distribution paths, thereby improving the robustness of the distribution. If a client node in the trees departs or fails, the clients that are downstream of that client in one distribution tree are generally not the same clients downstream from that client in another distribution tree. Hence, it is rare for a client to lose all sub-streams sent out by the server. Even though each client may not always receive all the sub-streams, it can reconstruct the streaming content from those sub-streams it receives, and the quality of reconstruction depends on the number of sub-streams received. In contrast, if there is only a single distribution tree, then all clients that are downstream from a departed or failed client will also fail to receive further streaming content.

Problems solved by technology

Hence, it is rare for a client to lose all sub-streams sent out by the server.

In contrast, if there is only a single distribution tree, then all clients that are downstream from a departed or failed client will also fail to receive further streaming content.

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